Blood Moons
by nlizzette7
Summary: Tyler catches her. He always does. / Four AU drabbles inspired by "every me loves every you" – in which every Tyler loves every Caroline. / Rated T for language and some adult content.


**blood moons. **

caroline forbes x tyler lockwood. pg-13

**_four au drabbles inspired by "every me loves every you" – in which every tyler loves every caroline. _****Written for my dear friend My, on a special birthday.**

* * *

_Baby I need a friend,_  
_but I'm a vampire smile, you'll meet a sticky end._  
_I'm here trying not to bite your neck,_  
_but it's beautiful._

**i. childhood sweethearts**

Caroline is wearing a blue dress the first time a boy notices Elena first.

It'll happen again and again in the years that come – and Caroline will try harder as Elena tries even less. She'll sketch in the pearly white smile while all the boys fall for Elena's easy tears.

Those are the things that the fates weave – those are the things that Caroline must swallow down and endure.

She and Elena are taking a stroll down by the Lockwood mansion, and Caroline is spinning at every step because the sun is catching the tulle of her skirt in just the right way.

They're not supposed to be down by these parts, not where the bad boy and his uncle are tossing a football in front of a manor that smells of old money.

It's Mason Lockwood, ever inappropriate, who's got his eyes on Elena – the red tank top she's just starting to fill out, the jeans tight on her long legs. He's a year too old to be doing this, but there are rumors that he's dipped in worse, so Caroline just rolls her eyes as Elena frowns.

"Hey," Caroline calls, even as Elena nudges her elbow and jerks her head _no_.

Mason pries his eyes from the brunette, tucks the football into the crook of his arm. "Ladies."

Caroline smiles back, raises her eyebrows at the boy standing at bay, clearly irritated.

_Oh, him._

Tyler Lockwood is the kind of guy who just doesn't make any sense: letterman jackets scented by cigarette smoke. There isn't supposed to be anything all-American about boys in leather coats.

"Hi," she says to him.

His frown eases – just a little bit.

They hang for the rest of the afternoon out by their backyard as Mason shamelessly hits on Elena over and over again. When he tries to kiss her on the cheek, Elena dodges, and Mason falls off the front porch.

"I'm Caroline Forbes, by the way," she says as Mason storms off.

"_Awesome_," Tyler taunts, mimicking her high-pitched voice. "Let me guess, pageant girl in training?"

Caroline narrows her eyes. "What's your _dilemma_?"

Tyler smiles now. "What's yours?"

He starts to follow her around after that. She'll pass by his house, and he'll fall into step, kicking up rocks and checking out her latest pretty ensemble when she's not looking.

"You know, before I met you, a lot of people said you were a jerk."

"Oh yeah?" Tyler smirks. "What am I now?"

Caroline's pinky brushes the back of his hand. "A jerk I know."

There's a morning in the summer when she doesn't hear Tyler's footsteps behind her when she passes by the Lockwood mansion. She pretends she's not waiting for him, finally gives in, poises her hand over their front door when it opens at the exact same time.

"Not today," Tyler hisses, shoving past her. From inside, Caroline can hear the muted sound of his mother yelling.

She finds him sitting in the grass, his back tense, his body trembling. There's an anger in his eyes that Caroline doesn't understand, but she doesn't chew him out about it.

_Not today._

Instead, she slides her hand over Tyler's – feels the trembles slow on every inch her skin is touching his. He looks at her a long time, pitch black fading back to brown around his irises.

Caroline is wearing a blue dress the first time a boy only notices her.

It's the day she never forgets.

**ii. apocalyptic**

What they don't tell you about Mystic Falls is that you'll enter it a resident and leave it a victim – the town is a ticking apocalypse that'll leave your heart split down the middle on your way out.

What they don't tell you is that this will happen whether you like it or not, to angry boys and beauty queens, that those glorious ones were born to die.

They call it mystic warfare.

When their town finally comes to a bloody end: bloodthirsty, fanged teenagers up against temperamental children of the night, all while witches make death rain from the sky, Tyler spies Caroline from across their battleground, blood dry on her lips, a halo of blonde expertly framing her face.

A beautiful disaster, or whatever the romantics call it.

He blinks away the chaos and only sees her.

(The people like Caroline slaughtered his uncle.

The people like Tyler have vengeance in their blood.)

They stand at what's left of the Town Square, a no man's land. A knocked-over sign screams: _Mystic Falls: Population __30,000 - __10,000 - __2,000 - __100 -__ 39_ until there's no room left on the wood at all.

"All my friends are dead," Caroline says, her eyes swollen, her teeth extra sharp.

Tyler was never one to fall for girls with eyes one gets lost in. But still, he says, "They don't have to be."

There's a thirst in the pair that the world tried to break, but that ending isn't quite right. The two were always just a little too big for Mystic Falls, for that small-town tragedy. They are outspoken creatures, angry at the world, perfect in their imperfections, much more than what they are.

Caroline wipes the blood from her face as Tyler takes a left turn.

Their getaway car speeds over the border, just as the sun falls.

**iii. rivals**

Tyler is prone to snapping.

It's just pity that Caroline never bends.

No, instead she gets hoisted up against the wall in her Saturday night dress, pressed against Bree's Bar's vandalized bathroom wall. She's got her homecoming dress on, and he's still got a bruise under his left eye from breaking all of the rules during that night's game. Outside, their schools are clashing in a sea of red and blue, drunken and too passive-aggressive to notice what's going on a few feet away.

_He tastes good, _Caroline thinks as Tyler passes his tongue over her bottom lip and tugs the cheerleading bow from her curls. _He tastes so, so good._

"You like that?"

"Shut _up_, Tyler."

Her elbow knocks back against the sink, and they take turns leaving nibbles along each other's necks.

Back at their respective schools on Monday, they'll date the complete opposites of each other: Matt, with all of his good-naturedness and golden boy features, Vicky, whose steps are never as gentle, eyes are never as bright.

"You know, it's kind of hot seeing you chant those routines in that skirt of yours," Tyler murmurs against her throat. "When I know you're cheering for me."

Caroline smiles up at the ceiling, one shoulder edging the strap from her dress. "That's what you think, Lockwood."

With her right leg, she forces him to pivot, digs her fingers into his t-shirt and pushes him back against the wall. She darts around much too quickly, and Tyler thoroughly enjoys it, holds her hips as she kisses his chin.

It's a little bit desperate – just like they are.

It's over in twenty more minutes with a sharp _oh God, Tyler_ – followed by a muffled _fuck, Caroline_, and she reapplies her lip gloss a good three times as he buttons his jeans.

"You know how I feel about you," Tyler smiles, putting his palm flat on the door so she can't pass.

Her smile is as confident as ever, but her eyes are shy. "I know. That's the whole point of this." She pauses. "Isn't it?"

Caroline kisses him on the cheek as she yanks the door open with startling force. Back outside, a round of football players pound him on the back by the pool tables. Back on her side of the bar, Elena and Bonnie shoot her curious glances – and Damon, Elena's infuriating boyfriend, remarks that she has war paint on her left cheek.

"It's from the game," Caroline murmurs, grabbing for her compact. "Obviously."

Bonnie pokes at the blonde's side. "Then why is it blue?"

Caroline's skin burns scarlet as she wipes the stray evidence away. She reaches for her phone next, shoots a text to the dark-haired boy across the room.

_why didn't u tell me?_

Tyler glances over his shoulder and winks at her as his cue taps the eight ball.

It's an easy win.

**iv. lossless**

In the aftermath, their hearts don't survive what Mystic Falls had to offer.

Bonnie Bennett, the girl who was so much more than the third best friend, is dead. And now, there's a ghost of a witch casting spells in the sky. But there's no charm that can stop Caroline from wilting inside.

_There isn't anything worth losing a friend._ Caroline thinks this over and over again, wondering what it all meant as Elena links her arms through Damon's, the last to walk away. Her hair lays flat against her cheeks, dull blonde under gray skies. She feels weak and stumbles back, hands grasping at the body behind her, digging at the boy's chest.

Tyler catches her.

"You're okay," he whispers, over and over again. "You're okay, you're okay."

In her tattered dress, she's Grimm's Cinderella, without the glitz of a silver screen. Here is the boy who is the wrong prince. Here is the boy who loves her: tragedy or not. A blonde strand sticks to Caroline's upper lip, and the skin under her eyes cloud with veins, bruised purples and stormy blues. Tyler kisses her on the forehead, between her brows – all of the other places that don't make any sense.

"How do we survive this?"

"With help."

Caroline cries for a long time after that, the ugly way that she only ever lets Tyler see.

"If you're waiting for someone to believe in you," Tyler smiles against her hair, "I could do that." He's serious now as her tears dry on his shirt. "I've always done that."

It's a hard walk out of the woods when they finally leave Bonnie behind.

Tyler catches her.

He always does.

_fin._


End file.
